Christopher Columbus and the New World of His Discovery — Complete eBook

He sailed thence for Palos, and reached home in September
1500, having added no inconsiderable share to the
mass of new geographical knowledge that was being
accumulated. In later years he took a high place
in the maritime world of Spain.

And finally, to complete the account of the chief
minor discoveries of these two busy years, we must
mention Pedro Alvarez Cabral of Portugal, who was
despatched in March 1, 1500 from Lisbon to verify the
discoveries of Da Gama. He reached Calicut six
months later, losing on the voyage four of his caravels
and most of his company. Among the lost was
Bartholomew Diaz, the first discoverer of the Cape
of Good Hope, who was on this voyage in a subordinate
capacity, and whose bones were left to dissolve in
the stormy waters that beat round the Cape whose barrier
he was the first to pass. The chief event of
this voyage, however, was not the reaching of Calicut
nor the drowning of Diaz (which was chiefly of importance
to himself, poor soul!) but the discovery of Brazil,
which Cabral made in following the southerly course
too far to the west. He landed there, in the
Bay of Porto Seguro, on May 1, 1500, and took formal
possession of the land for the Crown of Portugal, naming
it Vera Cruz, or the Land of the True Cross.

In the assumption of Columbus and his contemporaries
all these doings were held to detract from the glory
of his own achievements, and were the subject of endless
affidavits, depositions, quarrels, arguments, proofs
and claims in the great lawsuit that was in after years
carried on between the Crown of Spain and the heirs
of Columbus concerning his titles and revenues.
We, however, may take a different view. With
the exception of the discoveries of the Cape of Good
Hope and the coast of Brazil all these enterprises
were directly traceable to Columbus’s own achievements
and were inspired by his example. The things
that a man can do in his own person are limited by
the laws of time and space; it is only example and
influence that are infinite and illimitable, and in
which the spirit of any achievement can find true immortality.

CHAPTER VII

Thethirdvoyage-(continued)

It may perhaps be wearisome to the reader to return
to the tangled and depressing situation in Espanola,
but it cannot be half so wearisome as it was for Columbus,
whom we left enveloped in that dark cloud of error
and surrender in which he sacrificed his dignity and
good faith to the impudent demands of a mutinous servant.
To his other troubles in San Domingo the presence
of this Roldan was now added; and the reinstated Alcalde
was not long in making use of the victory he had gained.
He bore himself with intolerable arrogance and insolence,
discharging one of Columbus’s personal bodyguard
on the ground that no one should hold any office on
the island except with his consent. He demanded
grants of land for himself and his followers, which